'A charming man'
On Wednesday January 3 at around 3pm, Modimolle, a predominantly Afrikaans town in Limpopo, lost its innocence. Johan Kotze allegedly went psycho in a house on Kerk Street.
EERILY CALM: Johan Kotze holds his breath in a courtroom fIlled with venomous hatred. Picture by Bongani MnguniI thought I knew him
There was murder, blood, a victim of rape and three young men whom Kotze allegedly forced at gunpoint to have their way with Ina Bonnette, his estranged wife.
Bonnette was cruelly treated to the local version of BDSM (bondage discipline, sadism and masochism) and nails, pliers, a screwdriver and a grinder were set aside for a symbolic ritual afterwards.
Kotze allegedly commemorated the event by killing Bonnette's son, who was shot three times.
On Friday, when he appeared in the Modimolle Magistrates' Court with his co-accused - Mampuru Peter Mohlako, Andries Paparona Sithole and Sello Franz Mphaka - the town came to life again.
Dr JS Moroka Street was cordoned off and women wearing pink shirts with the words "Vir Ina" on the back carried placards that cried out for justice.
Inside the court, Kotze sat eerily calm, even when cameras where trained on his face, while his co-accused covered their faces.
Wearing blue Sampson jeans, a blue shirt and what looked like a prison pompadour hairstyle, he didn't breathe. He couldn't do it in this packed room, poisoned with the air of vengeance.
He faces 17 charges, including rape, murder, conspiracy to rape, kidnapping and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The court postponed the case against the four men to May 11 for further investigation.
"I thought I knew him," says Kotze's friend Dirk van der Merwe, a local dental technologist.
"He was charming and polite.
"What made him do this was that Ina went to a dance with another man. The strange thing is that he also disappears with other women. He disappeared for a week with a woman... He just liked things his way," he says.
"Once we went together with friends for a weekend of rafting.
"Ina was rowing and he didn't like the way she did it. He hit her with the oar on the side of the head. My friends were shocked."
Susan Mphaka, Sello Mphaka's older sister, came from Hammanskraal with extended family and friends.
"I took care of this young man," she says.
"We don't have parents.
"There are three of us at home and he is the third born. This is painful for us and I'm only reluctantly sharing this with you.
"Sello was taken under false pretences. He is innocent."
